Allow me to translate OP for you:
I shared content from behind paywalls because I thought paywalls were gross and harmed the community, but then I got caught and blocked because a creator (cowbuild) put a tracker in their files. Because I got caught and pressured by cowbuild and others MASS blocking me from content I paid for, I’m going to try and make a public apology to cover my rear and hope they let me have their paywalled “exclusive” content.
Even though:
- The sims 4 team has made it abundantly clear what they think of paywalls.
- Paywalls hurt the community
- Cowbuild/other paywallers putting trackers in files and then SHARING people’s personal information with each other is creepy and invasive as hell. (And yes, someone’s email is personal information. Trust me, as someone who’s had people sign up my work email for porn accounts {and every newsletter under the sun} there’s a LOT of ways you can make someone uncomfortable with just their email.) [I seriously don’t understand why the sims 4 community isn’t in a fucking UPROAR about this, esp. with how many people value online privacy these days.]
- Many “creators” don’t actually make their own meshes/content, and rip from secondlife, turbosquid, cgtrader, or other places, violating the rights of the actual creators of that content. (And possibly getting them into major legal trouble).
- Many pro-paywall creators have been caught doing things such as doxxing, harrassing people out of the community, stealing meshes from other creators, threatening their patreons, acting classist, and other things (you can find a whole list HERE).
Let’s also get another thing straight:
Free/Early access creators will be bummed if you share/reupload their content, but UNLIKE exclusive creators, most of them understand that the people taking advantage of that and choosing to abuse the system in that way wouldn’t have pledged to them anyway.
Pirating early access crap is so dumb because it’s like “WOOHOO. I got something two weeks before it’s made FREE! I’m impatient as fuck~!” *
*{Granted, speaking from the experience of someone who’s had pirates reach out to me for help confused about if a creator is early access or not, there are a TON of creators who claim to be early access but are in fact, not. (Ex: 2-3 months instead of 2-3 weeks.) Or are early access with certain items exclusive/paywalled making everyone (their subscribers/patreons/pirates/even people like me) confused.}
I respect creators when they treat the community they’re creating for like people, rather than acting like they’re cash cows, or potential members of their “exclusive club”. Because that’s what paywall creators are doing. They’re selling the exclusivity. If you want to do that, hop on over to secondlife, or some other game where you’ll get backing from the game’s creators to do so, instead of treating our community like crap.
And before you say “Oh well we’ve lost so many good creators to THIEVES.” Let me remind you that the reason many of them were being stole from was because they were forcing people to pay for custom content in direct violation of EA’s TOU, and the statements made by sim gurus, either by having full paywalls, or “exclusives” which are just as bad. Notice that NONE of the game changers, people who are actually in contact with the gurus on the daily, and get early access to new sims 4 content, have paywalls or exclusives.
In this case, it’s a simple newton’s law principle. “Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.” The moment you decide you’re going to paywall, that’s the moment that pirates and their kin will decide it’s time to release your content. Because if you’re not going to respect EA ’s TOU, why should they respect yours?
As to the OP, I doubt their forced apology is going to work. It’s sad, because they’re literally burning the bridge at both ends. Most pirates won’t trust them to not snitch, and creators won’t trust them to not steal. I highly doubt their begging and public apology will remotely get them back in any good graces.
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